Michigan State's players mob senior Derrick Nix after he was honored on Senior Night against Northwestern at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on Sunday, March 10, 2013. Michigan State won the game, 71-61.J. Scott Park | MLive.com

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State wasn't able to defend its
shared Big Ten championship this season after Indiana grabbed the outright
title, with Spartans captain Derrick Nix asking for and receiving the disheartening
news from teammate Russell Byrd during the Northwestern game.

Knowing that Michigan State would fall short not only
affected Nix on the court Sunday, but also into the following day as he took
responsibility for the team finishing tied for second behind Indiana.

"We apologize for the season," Nix said on the Tom Izzo
radio show at Monday night's team banquet. "A lot of people say I shouldn't say
that, but that was one of our goals."

While coach Tom Izzo made a fiery speech to the Breslin
Center crowd on Sunday expressing his pride in the team's consistent effort in
pursuing the title, Nix after the game used his Senior Day spotlight to place blame on his controversial comments
last month.

"The last time y'all was talking to me, I started saying
some crazy stuff and made some people mad, and that's the reason we didn't win
the Big Ten," Nix said. "They affected us a lot. They did. That's all I'm going
to say. Those comments affected us a lot."

Nix on Feb. 14 while speaking up in support of the draft
stocks of his teammates compared them with players from Indiana and Michigan.
The Spartans would go on to lose their remaining games against those teams during
a three-game losing streak, with Izzo saying the team had been dealing with
distractions.

In his own emotional, unrehearsed speech to the crowd, Nix said
he spoke from the heart as well while thanking his father figure, Izzo, and
mother, Darlis, for helping him get through four years in the program and on
the verge of graduation from Michigan State despite some missteps.

"Coach, this program has given me way more than I've given
the program," Nix said.

"By far, this has been the best team that I've been on.
These guys are here for me through thick and thin."